The prophet's handbook

His tangible media. His celestial nature means that when He does speak, it is without concrete means of substantiating His sounds and their meanings, or of sensitizing His words for our reception and interpretation. For these reasons, and due to prophetic inexperience, people invariably misunderstand what the Lord says to them. Their human filters, passions, and mentality, being conformed to this world, translate His meanings and intents to their personal advantage. It becomes easier to do this when they have little or no biblical knowledge and only devotional expertise with God’s Holy Spirit. Think about the time that Jesus spoke to His Father and God answered Him in John 12:28–29. Some people heard the sound as words; others heard it as thunder. That is how it is today. For other examples, read John 8:41–43 and Hebrews 12:19–20. In the passage from John 8, Jesus spoke to the religious leaders, presumably in their own language, yet the content of what He said completely escaped their spiritual understanding. This is similar to Yahweh’s Sinai experience with His newly founded nation as retold in Hebrews 12:18–24. In the Hebrews reference, the entire account is interpreted by the Holy Spirit from God’s perspective. It seems the strictness of the Lord’s word on the hearers back then was more than they could bear. The rigidity of God’s word would not bend for what they perceived as unjust punishment on an animal thought too ignorant to stay out of harm’s way. To those who looked on, an animal’s death on account of infringing upon the Lord’s holiness was nothing but Jehovah slaying an innocent victim. That it would die without knowing why was too harsh for the people to accept, so they begged Moses not to make them hear the Lord firsthand anymore. These examples point out the reasons why the prophet is needed in the local church, and how those who inquire of God should do so through them. People lack God’s lofty righteousness, which Psalm 71:19 says is very high. Unless someone of understanding and wisdom brings it down to the earth realm’s understanding, there is no way for people to grasp or regard it. When people cannot lay hold of the Lord’s truth, there is less hope of their obeying what they hear from Him, or at least performing their obediences the way He intended. Look at how differently you hear and understand information from how the Lord does. I once said to a group of people whom I was teaching that we can take years or decades to comprehend one complete thought from God. To make my point, I gave an example. The Lord can start in January, delivering a word He needs us to follow by a